When big businesses make big PR announcements about their values in today’s controversial political climate, it’s a safe bet that they’re more concerned with how it will affect their bottom line than taking some moral stand. As it turns out, sustainability is a actually super profitable business model. With mounting pressure from concerned consumers, adopting even slightly more sustainable practices can work wonders for public relations. On top of that, reducing waste and simplifying supply chains help cut production costs enormously by repurposing materials and cutting out the middlemen there to line their pockets. Sustainability is seen as new and trendy because it seeks to disrupt outdated business practices that have been in place since the American Industrial Revolution, but change isn’t always bad. Forward-thinking companies, like Mars Inc. who just pledged $1 billion to sustainability efforts and Wells Fargo who just committed $200 billion, are picking up on a change in the current trends of consumerism.
